Revival
by HeiligeHarmonie
Summary: Soul's days are spent taking care of her energetic Mareep, but one deviation from routine sends her racing into the unknown. She soon learns that there's more to this adventure than just catching a thief. SoulSilvershipping
1. Chapter 1

**Note:** I do not claim Pokemon as my own intellectual property. If you recognize it as something that belongs in Pokemon, its not mine. This is story is meant only to be free entertainment.

Chapter One

Soul peered into the space under her bed. It was empty but for a few dust bunearies. There was no sign of her hat. She stood and swept her eye around her bedroom one last time. She knew it had been in its usual place atop her dresser before she'd gone to take her morning shower, but that didn't explain where it had gone.

When she thought about it, there was one other thing she hadn't seen since earlier that morning: Mareep. Suspicious, Soul left her room and went downstairs. It seemed Mareep didn't get very far in her hat-stealing plot, because Soul spotted the missing hat on the far end of the sofa. As quietly as she could, Soul crept across the living room and, once it was it was in reach, snatched the hat straight up.

Soul laughed when Mareep let out a surprised cry. "Might want to find a better hiding place next time, huh?" She jammed the hat onto her head. "So, ready to head out?"

The pokemon let out a pleased bleat and leaped to the floor, an obvious, "Yes!"

Soul led the way through the kitchen, planning on grabbing an apple for herself and some berries for Mareep before leaving. She stopped before the fruit bowl and starred at it for a moment, at a loss for thought. Her mother had left a note and money perched atop the mound of apples and oranges.

"Am I really that predicable?" she asked Mareep as she picked up the paper and read it.

_In the garden today. _

_The berries have reached the peak of ripeness. _

_Can you go to Cherrygrove and pick up a few things for me?_

A list of items followed the short note. Soul chuckled. Her mom took gardening so seriously. She pocketed the list and money before grabbing an apple and a fist full of berries from the berry jar. "Looks like we're going to Cherrygrove today, Mar."

Mareep let out a cried out in joy and zoomed back through the house to wait at the front door, as she did even when the pair stayed in town. Their walks were part of their daily routine, but Mareep always acted as if she'd been locked inside for months. As soon as Soul opened the door, Mareep dashed outside and tumbled through the nearest patch of grass. Soul just shook her head and muttered, "Silly thing."

Mareep then bounded out of the yard and down the road, leading her owner down the familiar road that would take them past Professor Elm's lab and onto Route 29. The walk was quiet, as it usually was, at least until they got close to the lab. Almost as soon as the lab came into view, a terrified cry ripped through the air. Before Soul could figure out where it came from, something slammed right into Mareep and sent her flying as if she were nothing more than a leaf. It then leaped at Soul so suddenly that she was almost knocked over as well. The wrapped her arms around the squirming thing, trying to subdue it.

"QUIIIIIIIL!" the creature cried, trying to hide its head under one of Soul's arms. It was a Cyndaquil and it was terrified. Had it escaped from the lab? And just what had it so scared? The second question was answered soon enough. A Totodile was running from the same direction the Cyndaquil had, growling and waving its arms menacingly. It stopped just short of Soul and hopped up and down, trying to look more ferocious. Cyndaquil tried harder to hide.

Soul turned her body away from the water pokemon. "Leave poor Cyndaquil alone!" she commanded. The Totodile merely ran around Soul so as to put itself in front of Cyndaquil. Mareep picked herself up from the side of the road and jumped between Soul and Totodile, growling and sparking. That seemed to frighten Totodile a bit, because it hopped backwards.

"Heeey!"

Soul turned her head, still using her body to shield Cyndaquil. Gold was running as hard as he could, waving two poke balls.

"Totodile, get back in here!" he shouted when he was in range. Totodile turned and fell over in an attempt to escape before it was pulled back into its ball. Gold slowed and finally stopped next to Soul, bending over to catch his breath. "Sorry about that…Soul," he huffed. "I was walking them…for the professor, and…well…I guess Totodile and Cyndaquil don't get along."

"You're telling me," Soul said, stroking Cyndaquil's head. Since Totodile had been called back, the little pokemon had calmed down quite a bit. "I suppose you'll want this little one back?"

"Yeah." Gold lifted the other poke ball and Cyndaquil's form dissipated from Soul's hold. "Thanks."

Soul shrugged. "What was a supposed to do, throw it down and let Totodile torment it?"

Gold grinned. "You've got a point. Anyway, I should get these guys back to Professor Elm. I think they've gotten enough fresh air for one day. See ya later."

"See ya!" Soul waved as Gold ran back towards the lab. Once he was out of sight, she looked down at her Mareep. "Are you okay? That Cyndaquil bashed into you pretty hard."

Mareep gave her answer by running a few laps around Soul's feet. Satisfied, Soul motioned for her to continue on.

* * *

"Whoo! I can't wait to get home and rest! How about you, Mareep?" Mareep poked her head out of the patch of tall grass she'd just dove into. "Careful, you might run into a Sentret in there."

Mareep gave Soul at look that said, "I can take a stinking Sentret."

The pair was nearing New Bark Town, having made the trip to the store in Cherrygrove. It really was a longer walk than they usually take, so Soul was tired, even if Mareep still had energy to spare. Mareep could probably run from Olivine to Lavender Town in Kanto and still have the energy to run back.

"AUUUUG!"

Mareep and Soul both stopped at the same moment. After the Totodile/Cyndaquil fiasco that morning, they were wary of any stray cries. Slowly, they continued down the path, relaxing when they rounded a bend and saw that it was just a very flustered Professor Elm and his assistants.

"Afternoon, Professor!" Soul called.

The researchers looked around.

"Ah! Soul!" Professor Elm answered. "I heard you met my Totodile and Cyndaquil this morning."

"Yeah. You should really do something about that Totodile. It has a bit of an attitude problem."

Elm chuckled. "It does, doesn't it? Are you heading back to town?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, you see…" Elm fidgeted a bit, embarrassed to be in such a situation. "We've come out to do a field study today, but I forgot a folder on my desk. Would you mind getting it and bringing it back to us?"

"No problem!" Soul turned to Mareep and held out the grocery bag she carried. "Take this home to Mom?"

Mareep stood reared up on her hind legs, excited by this new challenge. Soul gave the bag to the pokemon and watched her take off in the direction of home.

"Spunky little thing," one of Professor Elm's assistants commented.

* * *

Soul pushed open the front door of the lab. It was dark inside, and she wasn't sure where the light switch was, but she knew the general direction of Professor Elm's office, and the open door gave her a little light.

She'd taken two steps into the lab when she froze. She'd seen a thin sliver of light flash somewhere near the back of the lab. It was just the light from the door reflecting off of something, she told herself. However, she was still drawn to that spot. She crossed the lab, remembering from her last visit that the only clear pathway was straight up the middle. She reached the back wall and walked along it until she reached the spot where she'd seen the light. There was a door that stood slightly ajar there. She placed her hand upon it, about to push it open, when she saw the light flash again. It came from inside the room. She'd seen the light switch on the wall right next to the door when the light passed over it. She took a deep breath and braced herself. Then, she thrust one hand through the opening in the door towards the switch; she shoved the door open with the other.

In the middle of Professor Elm's office stood a boy with long, red hair, dark clothes, and a flashlight, the source of the light Soul had seen. He'd been startled still by the sudden light. He stood with his free hand poised over a poke ball on the professor's desk.

Without thinking, Soul jumped at his back, knocking him first into the desk and then to the floor. She locked her arms around him and started screaming, hoping someone would pass by and hear her. The boy tried to throw her off. She just clung tighter. He reached for one of the poke balls that had been knocked off the desk. Soul stuck an arm out and snatched it away before his fingers could brush it. She curled her arm in and held the ball against her chest, ensuring he couldn't reach it again. But now her grip on him wasn't as firm. He rolled and pried her arm from around his neck, then used the desk as support to pull himself upright. Soul, reeling on the floor, scrambled for the remaining poke ball. She saw it by the door and dove, but she wasn't quick enough. The intruder snatched it up and fled the office. Soul chased him, crashing into tables stacked with instruments and tripping over the books the boy knocked over in his blind escape.

She shot outside and looked around, spotting the boy running towards Route 29. "Stop!" She yelled, though it did her no good. She sprinted after him, hoping that he wasn't too much fast than she. "Professor Elm!" she tried. "Professor Elm!"

There was no sign of the professor or his assistants. Soul was on her own.

The boy was nearing the turn off for Route 46. If he ran that way, there'd be no way Soul would be able to catch him. She only had one option. "Thief! Come back here and face me!"

To Soul's surprise, the boy stopped and turned.

* * *

(See my profile for author notes)


	2. Chapter 2

**Note:** I do not claim Pokemon as my own intellectual property. If you recognize it as something that belongs in Pokemon, its not mine. This is story is meant only to be free entertainment.

Chapter Two

The boy glared at Soul from behind his fringe. "Are you seriously challenging me?" he asked, sounding almost bored, as if he hadn't just been running from her not thirty seconds ago.

"Yeah, I am," Soul replied.

"Yeah?" The boy scoffed. "If your skills as a fighter are any indication of your skills as a trainer, then this shouldn't be much of a battle."

Soul pursed her lips and glanced down at the poke ball still clutched in her hand. Technically, she wasn't a trainer at all; she and Mareep had battled a few wild Sentret and Rattata every now and then, but they didn't make a habit of it. It wouldn't even be Mareep she'd battle with. She couldn't expect to win this battle, but maybe she could stall this guy long enough for Professor Elm to catch up. How good could he be if he had to steal a pokemon?

The boy tossed the stolen poke ball and unleashed, to Soul's horror, Totodile. She gave her ball one last look before throwing it. She didn't know how many pokemon Elm kept in his lab, but odds were, if this had been right next to Totodile…

A familiar little fire pokemon emerged from the poke ball. Soul groaned inwardly. Cyndaquil caught site of Totodile as soon as it was free, and it immediately shrunk back, cowering.

"That's all you've got?" the boy laughed. "How terrifying."

"Cyndaquil! Don't let Totodile push you around!" Soul cheered. "Tackle it!"

Cyndaquil turned to look at Soul, shaking it head and quivering even more.

"You thought you could challenge me when you can't even get a pokemon to obey you? Pathetic. Totodile, scratch."

Totodile lunged at Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil turned and ran at Soul, trying for a repeat of earlier in the day, but Totodile caught it in the flank. Cyndaquil lost its footing and crashed to the dirt. Totodile ran back to the red-haired boy and looked up at him for approval. The boy didn't spare it more than a glance.

"Cyndaquil?" Soul tried when Cyndaquil didn't get up.

The boy called Totodile back to its poke ball. He said something about one hit, but Soul wasn't listening. She was focused on Cyndaquil, knelt down next to the fallen pokemon. Surely it hadn't fainted after one hit. Professor Elm must keep all the pokemon in his care around the same skill level, so…

"Cyndaquil," Soul said once more, giving the pokemon a gentle prod. After a moment, Cyndaquil hopped up and into Soul's arms. "Hey!" She looked around for the boy, to tell him to send Totodile back out, but he was gone. She stood up and ran in the direction she thought he might have gone in, carrying Cyndaquil. When she reached the point where the road forked off to either Cherrygrove or Route 46, she stopped. There was no way for her to determine which way he gone. He'd gotten away.

At least Cyndaquil didn't have to suffer through another fight with Totodile.

* * *

Soul met up with Professor Elm and his team half way back to Newbark.

"Soul, what's going on?" Elm demanded upon seeing her. "Why do you have Cyndaquil?"

Soul quickly explained what had happened when she'd entered the lab. She ended her tale with, "I'm sorry, Professor."

"Oh, what do we do?" one of the assistants cried.

"We call the authorities," cried another.

"But we don't know which way he went!" the first responded.

"They can search in both directions, dolt!"

"Quite!" Professor Elm yelled. The bickering assistants clamped their mouths shut. "Don't worry, Soul, it's not your fault. Now, you two, go back to the lab and-"

"AUTHORITIES!" the more panicked of the two screamed. He grabbed his other by the sleeve and sped back in the direction of town.

Elm lifted Cyndaquil from Soul's arms and took a moment to check it over. "Hmm…There don't seem to be any injuries that need immediate attention. I'm impressed, considering the relationship between Cyndaquil and Totodile."

Soul laughed awkwardly. "Yeah." She'd purposely left out the part about Cyndaquil pretending to faint.

"We should head back," Elm said suddenly. "The police will want to speak with you."

* * *

"Just to be clear, you walked into the office and saw the boy stealing the Totodile." Soul nodded. "You jumped him." Soul nodded again. "Then you chased him down Route 29 and-"

The door banged open, effectively interrupting the officer. "I'm back, Professor!" Gold stopped short when he noticed the crown gathered in the room. "What's going on?" he asked, eyeing the police officer.

It was Professor Elm who answered. "Someone broke in and stole Totodile."

Gold's mouth dropped open. "What? No way!" He looked at Soul. "So why are you here? Did you see the guy?"

The officer piped up this time, feeling the need to assert his authority. "Apparently, this young lady fought him. Walked in on him in the act and jumped on him, then challenged him to a pokemon battle outside of town."

Gold gazed at Soul, wide-eyed. "Whoa, Soul, you really did that? Did you win?"

Soul shifted uncomfortably. "Well….you see-"

"Don't tell me Mareep lost!" Gold flapped his arm in exasperation. "She's so feisty! No one who has to resort to stealing pokemon could-"

"Gold! I didn't have Mareep. I used Cyndaquil."

The boy calmed down instantaneously. "Oh, well, there's your problem."

"It's not like I had much of a choice," snapped Soul.

"Anyway!" the officer interjected. "You've never seen the boy before today? You didn't see anything on him that could help determine where he's from or what his name might be?"

Soul shook her head. "Nope. Just dark clothes and red hair."

"HEY!" Everyone once again looked at Gold, the officer now wearing a sour expression, tired of being interrupted. "There was a kid in Cherrygrove with red and hair a Totodile…That was the professor's Totodile! Ugh!" Gold smacked himself in the forehead. "How could I have not recognized it? I freaking battled him! I'm so stupid!"

The officer suddenly became very interested in what Gold had to say. "Cherrygrove, you say? Did you get his name?"

Gold shook his head. "No, but he may still be in Cherrygrove, or close by, because I beat him with that Chikorita you gave me, Professor, so unless he was in so big a hurry that he charged out of town without a pokemon that can battle-"

Excited by this new development, the officer cut Gold off. "Good. Thank you, son. With this information, we may actually catch up to him." And with that, he hurried from the office.

Gold grinned, pleased with himself, before remembering why he had come to the lab in the first place. "Oh, yeah, you were right, Professor, Mr. Pokemon had an egg for you." Gold slung his backpack off and reached inside, pulling out an egg the size of his head.

Professor Elm examined it for a moment. "I don't recognize these markings…take it out to my assistants." Gold nodded and exited into the main part of the lab. Professor Elm turned to Soul. "Don't worry about letting that boy get away. No one could have expected you to stop him."

Soul dropped her gaze to her toes. Professor Elm and everyone else may feel that way, but she sure didn't.

"As you may have noticed," Professor Elm went on, "my Cyndaquil is shy to a fault. I've decided, since I gave Gold Chikorita for running an errand for me today, that I'm going to give you Cyndaquil."

Soul snapped her head up. "What?"

"I'm giving you Cyndaquil. I don't doubt that she already trusts you, considering how you protected her from Totodile this morning, and Mareep will probably be a good influence on her." Elm took the poke ball from his desk and offered it to Soul. "Unless you think she'll be too much trouble?"

"Oh! No, no, thank you." Soul took the ball and gazed at it. "Well, I guess I'll head home, now. Mom and Mareep are probably worried. Well, probably just Mareep." She laughed. "Mom would have called me by now."

"Be careful. I don't know how much help Cyndaquil will be if a wild pokemon jumped out at you!" Elm joked.

"I will. Thanks again."

Later that night, Soul sat on her bed, looking out the window into the night. Mareep and Cyndaquil were curled up at the foot of her bed. She'd wake them up soon. Something told her that the police hadn't caught that boy yet, which was just as well. She wanted to find him, and she wanted to beat him, to prove to herself that she could. She didn't know if her mom would try to stop her or not, but she couldn't risk it. She didn't even have the time to wait until morning, anyway. The longer she waited to leave, the further away that boy would get. She had to leave that night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Note:** I do not claim Pokemon as my own intellectual property. If you recognize it as something that belongs in Pokemon, its not mine. This is story is meant only to be free entertainment.

Chapter Three

Getting out of the house had been easier than Soul had expected. The entire time she packed supplies away into her bag, she'd had visions of running across the front lawn with her mother's Pidgeot hot on her heels. Luckily, they remained only visions, but, just to be safe, Soul didn't turn on her flashlight until she was well away from the house.

Mareep and Cyndaquil tottered along behind, not quite content in being roused to go on a midnight adventure. Soul could understand; the excitement from the day was finally catching up to her, and though Cherrygrove was only about an hour's walk, the Pokemon Center would be closed for the night. Perhaps she should have waited until morning.

No. She'd already snuck out. There was no point in going back. She'd just have to get to Cherrygrove and find a nice tree to sleep under. It was a nice summer night, after all.

A tree rustled in the windless night. Soul, Mareep, and Cyndaquil all yelped, and the former swung the flashlight around until she found the source of the noise. Her beam of light fell across a Hoothoot in the tree above them. The wild pokemon started which in turn startled Soul and nearly made her cry out again.

Worried that all the noise may have woken someone, Soul hurried on to Route 29.

* * *

Soul had absolutely no idea why she'd thought sleeping under a tree was a good idea. She'd woken up covered with a layer of dew and dirt. On top of that, while she'd gone to sleep with her back against the tree, she'd fallen over at some point and used Mareep as a pillow, and now her hair was so full of static that it zzzzt!ed every three seconds. At least she'd been able to take a shower at the Pokemon Center.

All that was left to do now was get back-up batteries for her flashlight. When she walked into the store, the shop-keeper greeted her.

"Back already?" she asked with a polite smile.

"Batteries," Soul answered simply, walking with purpose to the displays on the left side of the store. She picked out a four-pack and turned to walk back to the counter. However, Mareep, followed by Cyndaquil, disappeared around the end of the display at the opposite end of the aisle. Soul followed. "What are you two doing?" Mareep had her front feet pressed against the poke ball display and looked at Soul. "Are you nuts? We can't afford poke balls. We can't afford food for anyone else."

Mareep didn't move, giving Soul a hard stare, but Soul stood her ground.

"We didn't come here to catch pokemon, we came to catch that guy."

Soul left the store with her batteries and two poke balls.

"Don't think you'll get away with that all the time," Soul said, wagging an admonishing finger and Mareep as they headed towards Route 30 on the northern side of Cherrygrove City. "They only reason I bought those was because we don't have time to stand around argu—"

One shadow, then another, passed over the little group. Soul barely needed to glance up into the sky to know they belonged to her mother's Pidgeot and Fearow. She tucked Mareep and Cyndaquil under her arms and dashed to press herself against the side of the nearest building. Had they seen her? No, if they had, they'd have swooped down and carried her back home. She wondered how far they'd fly looking for her. Maybe she should have left a note that said more than, _I'm going out. I'll be back in a few days._ She watched as the birds circled high over the town for a few minutes before finally flying east, back to Newbark Town. She released the breath she'd been holding and put her pokemon back on the ground.

"That was too close."

* * *

Soul was starting to see why Professor Elm had wanted her to take Cyndaquil. By the time they'd gotten half way up Route 30, they'd run into a Caterpie and a Pidgey. Both times, Cyndaquil had curled up behind Soul's legs, leaving Mareep to chase them off.

Something had to be done…quickly. She began actively searching for wild pokemon. It wasn't long before she spotted another Caterpie crawling along a tree branch. After a quick look around, Soul found a rock, took aim, and threw it. The rock found its mark. The Caterpie tumbled to the ground and took a moment to regain its bearings.

"Go on, Cyndaquil! Tackle it!" Soul urged. "You can do it! It's just a Caterpie! It's squishy!"

Cyndaquil gaze up at Soul, still unsure about attacking a wild pokemon. Soul stared back, trying to project every bit of her confidence into Cyndaquil.

Cyndaquil suddenly turned and, with a loud cry, charged at Caterpie. The Caterpie regained its wits at the last moment, however. As fast as it could, it crawled back up the tree, and Cyndaquil slammed headfirst into the trunk.

"Cyndaquil!" Soul knelt next to her fallen pokemon. Out cold. Soul sighed and scooped Cyndaquil into her arms. Perhaps she'd be up for trying again when she came around, but Soul doubted it. For now, they'd continue on to Violet City.

* * *

_Author Note: Holy crap, this is seriously half the length of the other two chapters. Oops. Sorry about that. -_-'_


	4. Chapter 4

**Note:** I do not claim Pokemon as my own intellectual property. If you recognize it as something that belongs in Pokemon, its not mine. This is story is meant only to be free entertainment.

Chapter Four

Soul stopped at the Pokemon Center as soon as she reached Violet City. She was certain that Cyndaquil was fine and certainly in no need of treatment (she was unconscious for less than twenty minutes), but it'd taken the whole day to walk from Cherrygrove, and Soul did not want to spend another night outside. The Center was also the best place to get information on the thief. She was going to ask the nurse if he'd been there at all, but the nurse had just taken a poke ball from a pair of boys, so she stood back to wait quietly.

"…guy's Totodile was pretty cool, and it totally whipped your Bellsprout! It was at the disadvantage!"

…or not. Soul barged up to the boys. "Did you say Totodile?"

"Yes," the owner of the Bellsprout said grumpily.

"Did the trainer have red hair?" Soul pressed.

The older boy laughed. "The guy has cute fans, too!" He elbowed his friend. "This just gets better doesn't it?"

The first boy glared sideways at him. "Yeah, loads."

Soul ignored their banter. "Where did he go?"

"Well, after he wiped the street with my buddy's Bellsprout, he headed toward Sprout Tower, but instead of chasing after that guy, you should—"

"Thank you!" Soul spun on her heel and sped out of the Pokemon Center before the boy could finish his pick-up line. She'd never been to Sprout Tower, but it wasn't hard to spot over the smaller buildings. She ran. She had to. She couldn't let him leave the tower before she got there, because as long as he was inside, he was cornered. There'd be no way for him to slip past her.

Soul slowed to a walk just before the tower, entering it with an appearance of calm, while, really, her heart was pounding with anticipation.

"Hello!" An old man popped out from behind the pillar at the center of the room. Soul screamed and nearly stepped on an equally startled Cyndaquil and Mareep. "Welcome to Sprout Tower! Trainers from all over come here to train their—"

"I don't mean to be rude, but I'm in a hurry." Soul side stepped the man and motioned for pokemon to follow.

"Do you know the legend of Sprout Tower?" the old man went on, appearing to not have heard Soul. "They say that a giant Bellsprout—"

"Sir, really, I'm looking for someone who is up in the tower." She took long strides, hoping that she'd be able to shake the man off, but he stunk behind her, jabbering on, until she reached the stairs and all but ran up them.

When she reached the second floor, she looked around. The lighting was dimmer than on the floor before, and the air was mustier. The floor was divided up by walls that only rose up about three-fourths of the way to the ceiling, but they were high enough to prevent her from easily surveying the room. If she held her pokemon up, they might have been able to see, but it would be no good unless anyone that may be nearby were taller than the wall.

They followed the dividers, hoping they didn't form some kind of maze. They rounded a corner and Soul spotted the stairs up to the next floor, but as they drew closer, something began to feel off. It seemed to be getting darker with every step, and the temperature was dropping.

"Do you feel that?" She looked down and saw that both Cyndaquil _and_ Mareep had stopped about five feet back. "Guys, what's u—" A weight on Soul's left shoulder silenced her. She stood stock still, hoping she was imagining it, until a low, rumbling chuckle filled her ears. She screamed and darted forward, snatching Mareep and Cyndaquil up. As she ran back around the corner, she lost her footing and fell, nearly squashing Mareep. She looked back and saw a shadow hovering through the air after them. Too scared to even scream this time, Soul slid back and pressed herself against the wall, hugging her pokemon tightly.

A jet of water shot out of the gloom and, to Soul's delayed surprise, struck the shadow and slammed it into the wall above her head. The shadow changed form, condensing into a form that wasn't solid, but more visible. A second later, a poke ball flew from the place the water had come from and captured the ball of gas. The thrower then emerged to claim his catch.

"You!" Soul shouted when the red-head was standing over her. She glared up at him. He glared back.

"I can't believe you were scared of a Gastly." He stooped and picked up the poke ball. "Actually, no, I'm not."

"Excuse me?" Soul jumped to her feet.

He rolled his eyes. "It's kind of hard to be intimidating when you're still clutching your pets."

Soul blushed and let Mareep and Cyndaquil hop down. "Battle me."

"Um, no." The boy turned and walked towards the exit.

"Why not?" demanded Soul.

"I beat you yesterday," the boy supplied without so much as a look back. "Quite easily, too. I doubt you'll be worth my time after one day."

Soul stomped after him. "I have my Mareep this time."

"So? Type advantage means nothing if you don't know how to battle."

Soul had about had it with this boy. "I came to get that Totodile back, and I'm not leaving until I get it!"

"Then I suppose it's a good thing I can leave instead."

That was it. Screw pokemon. Soul would have to take things into he own hands, literally. She threw her bag down and dove at the boy's waist, knocking him over for the second time in two days. She tried to stuff her hand in his pocket, where his poke balls were.

"What is your problem?" he yelled, thrashing about in an attempt to throw her off.

Soul closed her fist around something round. She pulled her hand out, bringing everything in the pocket out with it. She flung herself as far away from the boy as she could, crying out in triumph.

That was when the poke ball opened. Totodile did not come out. Gastly made a terrifying face; Soul shrieked and tossed the ball away. The boy snatched the discarded ball and called Gastly.

"Scared of Gastly," was all he said before sprinting down the stairs.

Soul slammed her fists on the floor and swore. She'd let him get away. Again. Apparently jumping him was not going to work. There was no time to waste planning out her next move. There was no doubt in her mind that he would actively try to put distance between the two of them as quickly as possible. She had to just follow and hope she caught him soon, otherwise, she'd be sleeping outside again.

"Let's go, guys." She stood picked up her discarded back, but she'd only taken two steps before Cyndaquil called her attention. "Hm?" She turned. Cyndaquil was standing over something. She picked it up. It was a wallet. Soul couldn't help the grin that spread across her face as she pried it open. The red-haired boy glared up at her from a photo ID. There was also a fair amount of money in it. He wouldn't be making it far without this. She closed the wallet and placed it safely in a pocket inside her bag. He'd backtrack to the tower looking for it before long, but Soul had no desire to stay the night anywhere another Gastly may be lurking. She could stay at the Pokemon Center. After all, he'd start looking for _her_ before long.

* * *

_Author note: So, Soul's very...determined. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Note:** I do not claim Pokemon as my own intellectual property. If you recognize it as something that belongs in Pokemon, its not mine. This is story is meant only to be free entertainment.

Chapter Five

Soul couldn't help but hope that the boy, Silver, according to his ID, would notice right way that his wallet was missing and show up at the Center within an hour, even though it was just as likely that he would reach Goldenrod City before he noticed. Even if he _were_ to march right into the lounge at that moment, she still didn't have a plan of action other than trying once again to make him battle her.

Soul stretched out on the couch and toed Cyndaquil, who had been making a show of building a nest out of Mareep's wooly coat. "So," she began, dragging the o out a bit, "how about we train you a bit tomorrow." Cyndaquil hid her head in Mareep. "Aw, come on. We'll stay away from those speedy Caterpie."

Cyndaquil peeked at her, but gave no sign of agreement. Soul sighed. "I can't believe you're so content in letting Totodile best you." Still unable to get a satisfactory response out of Cyndaquil, Soul rolled over and closed her eyes, taking but a few minutes to fall asleep.

* * *

"You have two choices, Cyndaquil," Soul said the next morning outside of the Pokemon Center. "We can go back to Route 31—" she pointed to the east "—or we can go to Route 32." She pointed to the west. Cyndaquil merely gave her a vacant expression. "Or maybe I should just have Mareep train you. You don't seem to be afraid of her."

Cyndaquil glanced at Mareep, who returned with a fierce expression. Cyndaquil was taken aback and quickly pointed her snout in the direction of Route 32. Soul grinned.

"I figured that would work. Let's go."

They followed the road around the Pokemon Center. They passed the Pokemon Academy, and Soul wished she had the time and money to take a few classes. She'd had Mareep for years, but then again, Mareep was very outgoing and had been, in truth, nothing more than a pet. The situation with Cyndaquil was different, and though Soul was handling it as best she could, she knew it was probably not the best way.

They were passing the Violet City Gym when Mareep stopped dead.

"What is it, Mareep?" Mareep jerked her head in the direction of the Gym. Soul looked from Mareep, to the gym, and back to Mareep. "What, train at the gym?" Mareep nodded. Soul thought about it for a moment, then turned to Cyndaquil. "A trained pokemon could be told to go easy on you if you need it. What do you say?"

Cyndaquil gave Soul a terrified look before curling in on itself. Soul shook her head. "That won't work on me." She plucked Cyndaquil up and marched to the Gym.

Something was definitely not right. The Gym was empty. Not empty as in everyone went out to lunch, but empty as in deserted. The Gym hardly looked used at all. There were no lights on, the only light being from the morning sun that came from above. A large chunk of the ceiling must have been missing to let that much light in. Soul looked up to inspect the damage. Her mouth dropped open. A perfectly rectangular hole was cut into the ceiling, leaving only about five feet on material around its perimeter. As if that weren't enough, narrow walkways and furniture were suspended from steel supports that criss-crossed the would-be ceiling. Maybe it wasn't abandoned after all.

"Hello down there!" Soul searched for the source of the call. She spotted him quickly: a boy sitting a suspended chair, feeding from his hand the Spearow perched on his arm. "If you're here to challenge Falkner, he's not here right now."

"Actually, I'm just here to train a little bit," Soul shouted back.

"Take a few steps forward!"

Soul was bewildered by the request, but obeyed. She took one, two, three, four—

"Okay, stop!"

Soul still didn't understand what a few steps had to do with training, but before she could ask, the floor beneath her feet lurched upward. Her knees buckled and Soul found herself face down on the floor panel, Cyndaquil struggling to squeeze out from beneath her. A moment later, the floor stopped, but Soul, Cyndaquil, and Mareep kept flying up. Soul screamed and thrashed her limbs as if she'd somehow fly.

Soul felt her body changing direction. A moment later, she realized that some number of Pidgey had caught her by the back of her clothes and were guiding her towards the suspended walkway. They weren't able to slow her fall much, though, and she crashed onto the petal platform, splaying her arms out and gripping it as if she could fly off again at any moment. Two other groups of Pidgey rescued Mareep and Cyndaquil.

"There we go. We can talk much better like this."

In a sudden rush of fury, Soul stood. Sheswung her bag off her shoulder and began to berate the boy with it, having no desire to jump from the walk to his chair. His Spearow fluttered out of the way with an angry squawk.

"ARE YOU INSANE? WE COULD HAVE DIED! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?"

The boy brought his arms up to shield his head. "Ow! Hey! Okay, I'm sorry! Stop hitting me!"

"I WILL NOT STOP," Soul continued to shout, punctuating each word with a heavy blow from her bag. "YOU LAUNCHED ME AND MY POKEMON INTO THE AIR!"

A gentle hand landed on Soul's shoulder and she calmed down enough to turn. The hand belonged to a dark-haired young man who looked far less than pleased.

The boy didn't seem to comprehend much beyond the halt of Soul's assault and the reason for it. "Oh, Falkner, thank goodness you—"

"What have I told you about the lift?" The boy's mouth snapped shut. "I've specifically told you that the lift is for use of Gym trainers only, not for launching unsuspecting visitors, haven't I, Abe? I should have let her beat you unconscious."

The boy looked off somewhere to the left. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"I'm sure you are." Falkner then turned to Soul, his face softening to a much friendlier expression. "I'm Falkner, Violet City Gym Leader. What can I do for you? Here for a Gym Challenge?"

"Oh, no, no, I just came to train my…" She pointed at Cyndaquil, noticing just then that the poor thing had rolled over on her back and passed out. Mareep sat nearby, sitting stock still and staring at the sky. "Well, I think my Cyndaquil may have just died of fright." Soul knelt next to Cyndaquil and gave her a few prods while Falkner shot another glare at Abe, who slumped in his chair.

Cyndaquil went from unconscious to conscious in a split second. She instantly righted herself and attached herself to Soul's shin. Soul couldn't blame the little pokemon; now that her initial burst of anger had subsided, the height was starting to make her dizzy. "Mareep?" Mareep remained motionless. She didn't move a bit until Soul picked her up, and even then, she only moved enough to hide her face in Soul's chest. She never had liked high places.

"Um," Soul turned slowly, being sure not to jostle her terrified Cyndaquil too much, "is there any way we could go back to the ground?"

Falkner nodded and released a Pidgeotto. Soul quickly fished Mareep's and Cyndaquil's poke balls out of her bag and called them inside. Pidgeotto hovered just over her head.

"Hold your arms out for Pidgeotto to hold," Falkner instructed. "She probably won't be able to carry you far, but she'll slow your—Hey!"

Soul hadn't listened to a word Falkner said. She'd just reached up and took hold of Pidgeotto's legs and, once it'd taken hold of her wrists, asked it if it was ready. Pidgeotto flapped its wings harder, and when Soul felt some of her weight lift, she kicked off the platform. They glided to the Gym floor, and then Pidgeotto went back for Falkner.

"My mom loves birds," she said before Falkner could say anything. "She uses me as a weight for them."

"Interesting," Falkner mused. "You said you wanted to train?" Soul nodded. "Well, I could set you up with that idiot up there." He waved his hand in Abe's direction. "You could take revenge for the lift."

"I don't know how well that would work out."

Falkner raised an eyebrow. "You can't be that bad."

"My Cyndaquil runs from every pokemon she faces."

"Ah. Well, you could still give it a shot. I'm sure your Mareep could hold its own against Abe's Spearow, if it comes to that. Abe!" Abe poked his head up over the back of his chair, still looking like a kicked puppy. "Come here!"

Abe disappeared behind the chair once more, and, a moment later, the quiet whirl of a winch filled the air. Abe and his chair were lowered to the floor. Soul wondered why she had to take the hard way up.

"Abe, you're going to train with…"

"Soul," supplied Soul.

Abe eyed Soul warily, afraid she may start hitting him again. "Do I have to?"

"Isn't training the exact reason you come here every day?"

Abe was quiet until Falkner had taken a few steps away. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," he mumbled when he thought Falkner was out of earshot.

"It has less to do with where I woke up and more to do with you endangering people in my Gym," Falkner snapped, quite obviously still in earshot.

Abe flinched, but finally realized that it was best he just kept his mouth shut. He hurried to position himself a fair distance away from Soul. He extended his arm, and Spearow swooped down from wherever it had been perched to land on it.

Soul pulled Cyndaquil's poke ball from her bag, giving it a firm stare before throwing it and releasing the timid pokemon inside. Cyndaquil looked from Abe and Spearow to Soul a few times before ending on Soul with a frightened look.

"It's okay, Cyndaquil. It's just a practice battle," Soul reassured her.

"Wow, your Cyndaquil's kind of wimpy, isn't it?" Abe laughed.

Soul glared at him. "Just send Spearow forward."

Still grinning in amusement, Abe jerked his arm up and Spearow took flight once more. "Give it a peck attack!"

Spearow dove at Cyndaquil, whole cried in terror and leapt to the side. Soul cheered when Spearow crashed into the ground.

"Quick, Cyndaquil!" she cried. "Tackle it before it gets back up!"

Cyndaquil hesitated a moment, summing up all the nerve she could, and charged straight at Spearow. Unfortunately, Cyndaquil's pause had given Spearow enough time to take to the air and avoid her attack entirely. Cyndaquil kidded to a halt and looked around, trying to get Spearow back in sight.

"Attack it while it's confused, Spearow!"

Spearow dove again, this time from behind.

"Move!" Soul shouted.

Cyndaquil panicked. She looked in every direction as if she'd see something that would tell her where to go. Instinct kicked in and she simply bolted forward, but not quickly enough. Spearow's beak caught her left flank. That one injury was enough to erase any progress that Cyndaquil had made in the last few moments. She assumed her familiar fetal position and quivered violently.

"Is that it? It's one thing to be weak, but to be _that_ afraid? It's sort of pa—"

All of a sudden, Cyndaquil uncurled herself and charged, this time at Abe. Soul's mouth dropped open when Cyndaquil went so far as to hurl herself straight into Abe's abdomen. Abe toppled over backwards and gasped for air.

"Cyndaquil!" Soul hurried over and picked Cyndaquil up. "What…I…Did you get tired of being called pathetic? Or was that pay back for earlier?"

Cyndaquil waved her front legs gleefully. "Quiiiiiil!"

The Gym filled with squawks and laughter. The squawking came from Spearow, unable to decide whether to attack or wait for a command. The laughter came from Falkner, who stood (or rather, _barely_ stood) on the other side of the Gym, doubled over and clutching the wall for support. Soul smiled, close to laughing herself, but she bit it back.

"Well, I suppose that's enough for now, huh?" Soul looked down at Abe, who'd begun to breath normally again and had pushed himself into a sitting position. "Um…Sorry about that."

"'S'okay, I guess," he huffed. "Just make sure you teach that thing to not do that again."

* * *

Soul exited the Gym and took a moment to release Mareep. She'd planned on apologizing to Mareep for not thinking to let her out sooner and making her miss the match, but Cyndaquil didn't give her the chance. As soon as Mareep was corporeal, Cyndaquil began jabbering excitedly. Soul could only assume that she was telling Mareep about all she'd missed. At least Cyndaquil didn't show any shyness with Mareep. Perhaps Professor Elm was right to assume that Mareep would be an influence on Cyndaquil.

Actually, attacking Abe seemed like something Mareep would do. Soul gave her pokemon a nervous glance. Perhaps Elm was _too _right.

"So, what do you guys think?" Soul asked, beating back the horrifying images of _two _Mareeps. "Picnic to celebrate Cyndaquil's defeat of Abe?" Both pokemon cried an agreement. "Then to the mart!"

Mareep broke into a sprint, as did Soul. Cyndaquil realized that they were racing and followed, eventually passing Soul and reaching the mart just behind Mareep. As Soul neared the front of the store, something jumped off the awning over the door at her. Soul balked and threw he hands up to shield her face. Whatever it was knocked her hat off and took its place on her head. Soul lowered her hands and opened her eyes. She was met with another pair of eyes, upside down and blinking at her.

"Pom?"

It was an Aipom…a familiar Aipom.

"Aibo?"

* * *

A/N: So, who has read/is reading Pokemon Adventures?  
Oh, and I'm signed into MSN messenger right now, so if you've any questions or just want to talk, EndlessDark616 [at] live [dot] com


	6. Chapter 6

**Note:** I do not claim Pokemon as my own intellectual property. If you recognize it as something that belongs in Pokemon (Or Pokemon Special/Adventures), its not mine. This is story is meant only to be free entertainment.

Chapter Six

"Aibo?"

The Aipom bounced to the ground and retrieved Soul's hat, holding it out to her and cocking its head to the side.

Soul took the hat and replaced it on her head. "It is you, Aibo. What are you doing all the way out here?"

Aibo chittered and snaked through Soul's ankles in figure-8s, something he often did when he was proud of himself.

"Soul!"

Soul turned, nearly treading on Aibo. There stood Gold, still holding the store's door open, his expression steadily changing from shocked to pure joy.

"Thank goodness I found you!" he cried. He vaulted over Cyndaquil and Mareep and threw himself at Soul, nearly knocking her over. "You have no idea. You just have no idea."

"Um, Gold, are you okay? You sort of…smell." She tried to pry Gold off herself, only to make him cling tighter.

"Noooo," he moaned. "I ran all night to catch up to you, you're not getting away."

"Gold, you need a shower and some sleep."

Gold yelped and hopped backwards, keeping his fists tight around the straps of Soul's overalls. "Nope, we have to go home now." His eyes were wide and bloodshot. "We've got to go home right now. She might have someone watching me."

Soul raised an eyebrow. "Who might have someone watching you?"

"YOUR MOTHER!" He yanked Soul back and forth. "I was walking past your house yesterday, and your mom was outside, so I said, 'Good afternoon,' because that's the polite thing to do, and she jumped at me, and she grabbed me, and she said, 'Soul has run off! You're going to go find her! DO YOU UNDESTAND ME?' and I was like, 'Yes, yes, ma'am,' and I left and I haven't stopped—"

At a loss for what to do, Soul slapped Gold. A swift smack to the face was all it took to snap him back to reality.

"Better?" she asked when a much calmer disposition took hold of him.

"Yes, thank you." He sighed and hung his head. "I had no idea your mom could be so scary."

Soul smoothed her clothes out. "I had no idea she'd react like that."

Gold crossed his arms. "Care explaining _why_ you've made your mother go insane?"

Soul averted her gaze to Aibo, who had approached Cyndaquil and Mareep and was attempting to persuade the former to come out from behind the latter. "There's just something I have to do," she said dryly.

"What's important enough that you had to run out in the middle of the night?"

"Nothing."

Gold sighed. "Okay, fine. Knowing you, if I tried to force you to go back, you'd just sic Mareep on me—"

"Yep."

"—but I'm going with you."

Soul frowned. "I've done just fine on my own so far, Gold. I don't need your help."

"I'm not going because I think you need help." He gave her a grave look. "I'm honestly terrified that if I go home without you, I'll end carried all the way to Vermillion City by my ankle."

"Oh." Soul laughed. "I'm starting to think you're blowing it out of proportion. You need some sleep."

Gold gaped at her. "I am not!" He paused and then said, "I do need some sleep, though. You have time for me to take a nap, right?"

"Yeah, we were actually going to see what we could get for a picnic with the money I have…"

"Wait, wait, wait." Gold closed his eyes and placed his fingers on his temples, now completely confused on top of exhausted. "Not two days ago you were in some big hurry, and now you're going on a _picnic_?"

"Things have changed a bit," Soul replied, bothering neither to suppress her smirk nor to refrain from tapping her fingers on Silver's wallet through her bag's material. "And Cyndaquil has earned it."

Gold quirked an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder at Cyndaquil. "Oh, really?"

"Mm-hmm. I'll tell you about it in bit, if you don't fall asleep on me first."

* * *

"Soft grass!" Gold sighed, flopping himself onto the first suitable spot, a grassy patch on the edge of Violet City, near Route 31. He curled up on his side and tucked his hands under his head. "Who needs beds?"

Soul snorted and placed the bag of food they'd bough on the ground some feet away. The irritability that often accompanies exhaustion finally caught up with Gold while Soul was picking out the most cost effective meal. He got impatient and simply grabbed enough food for the lot of them. Soul had pointed out their limited money, but Gold just reminded her that he'd just had his birthday and paid for the food himself before she could further object.

Gold hadn't even bothered to take his backpack off. Soul wriggled his arms out of the straps with some difficulty; Gold was far too intent on getting his nap right then. She searched through the pockets until she found what she was looking for: Gold's poke balls. Aibo was already out and digging through the berries, so only Chikorita needed to be released. The green pokemon pranced about the moment it was let out.

"Gold, did you give your Chikorita a name?"

"Iz Chibo," Gold slurred.

"Hello, Chibo. I'm Soul." Chibo whipped his leaf around as a greeting. Soul frowned when she noticed odd spots on Chibo's skin. "Gold, what are these marks?"

"So many…Hoothoot."

Soul gapped at the nearly unconscious boy. "You got attacked by Hoothoot? Why?"

"Sleeeeeeeep," Gold maoned. There would be no explanations from him, at least not for a few hours.

* * *

"Right." Soul pulled the bag away from Aibo. "So, lunch. Mago berries for Mareep, and Aibo likes Figy, right?" Aibo cartwheeled to Soul and eagerly accepted the spicy berries. "And…there's some Sitrus and a Papaya berry in here, too, if you two want to pick something." She held the bag out for Chibo and Cyndaquil. Chibo quickly chose a few Sitrus berries, while Cyndaquil took a moment to sniff the Papaya before choosing the rest of the Mago berries.

Watching the pokemon play had been amusing for the first hour and a half, cloud watching was okay for thirty minutes, but nearly five hours of just sitting in the same spot was enough for Soul. Gold didn't stir when she shook him softly. He didn't stir when she shook him roughly, nor when she yelled his name. If he didn't wake when she kicked him, she thought, she'd have to have Mareep shock him. Fortunately, he responded to the kick.

"Hm? Wuzgoinon?"

"Jeez, you sleep like a rock," Soul gripped. "The sun is going down. We should head back to the Pokemon Center."

"'M starving." He rubbed his stomach.

"You slept through lunch. What do you expect?" Soul asked, throwing the Papaya berry at him.

Gold squeaked (earning him an astonished look from Soul) and bit into the berry, smearing the juice all over his cheeks. Soul pulled him up by his elbow and held his backpack out. He glanced at it for less than a moment and took another huge bite for the berry. Soul rolled her eyes and swung it over one shoulder, then swinger her bag over the other.

She hadn't had her back turned on Gold for two seconds before he shouted and ran past her, chased by a Hoothoot.

Soul set her jaw. _Do the Hoothoot of Johto have a vendetta against him?_

Gold tripped, twisting himself in the air to prevent his precious food from touching the ground. The Hoothoot dove at Gold's chest, at the berry. Gold removed one hand from the berry and flapped his arm at his attacker.

"Mareep, go help him."

Mareep gave bleated an affirmative and dashed forward. The Hoothoot darted back and forth, but it was too focused on Gold and the Papaya to notice Mareep. The little wool pokemon watched for an opening, a moment when the Hoothoot would hover just a tad too long. That moment came, and Mareep unleashed a bolt of electricity. The Hoothoot screeched and dropped onto Gold. Gold pushed it off of him before standing, hugging his Papaya to his chest and sticking his tongue out at the fallen owl.

Then the unexpected happened. Hoothoot leapt back into the air, still very much conscious and much angrier. It turned on Mareep, who was so surprised to see her attack had, for the most part, failed, that she turned tail and ran straight back to Soul. The Hoothoot perused, hurtling so quickly in Soul's direction that she had to throw herself to the ground to avoid being hit.

"Crap!" she shouted. A zipper on her bag had come loose and the contents of the pocket had spilled across the ground. Mareep jumped on her then, giving her no time to collect the spilled items. Hoothoot had turned and was closing in for another attack.

"Throw a poke ball at it!" Gold yelled.

Soul looked around. Her poke balls, including the spares that Mareep had convinced her to buy had been what fell out of her bag. Without another thought, she grabbed one and hurled it at the Hoothoot, striking it square in the forehead. The Hoothoot disappeared into the ball, and Soul dove at it as soon it touched the ground, knowing from experience with Mareep that if a pokemon really didn't want to stay in a poke ball, it wouldn't. She held it closed and looked at Gold with wide eyes.

"You couldn't have given it the berry?"

Gold hugged the berry to his chest once more. "No way! This thing is almost as big as my head and I'm _starving_."

Soul glared at him. "Fine, but when we let this thing out, it's probably still going to be mad. You're so helping me calm it down."

* * *

A/N: Okay, so it's technically Monday which means this is technically late, but I've had a migraine all week, and I shouldn't be making excuses, but you're going to deal with it because I didn't give you a chapter that's 700 words long.


	7. Chapter 7

**Note:** I do not claim Pokemon as my own intellectual property. If you recognize it as something that belongs in Pokemon (Or Pokemon Special/Adventures), its not mine. This is story is meant only to be free entertainment.

Chapter Seven

Gold was sprawled on his back on the sofa in the Pokemon Center. The half-eaten Papaya berry rested in the crook of his arm.

"So full," he moaned, "but it's so delicious…want to finish…" His head lolled back and forth.

Soul swatted his legs, and he pulled them up to allow her space to sit. "You could just give it to Hoothoot," she suggested, gently waving the poke ball she still held at him. "He really seemed to want it."

Gold scrunched his nose and exhaled sharply. "Fine." He sat up and placed the large berry on the cushion between Soul and himself. "But what if he just decides to attack us?"

"We get the heck out of here," Soul said, glancing at the stairs.

"Sounds good." Gold looked at the poke ball apprehensively. "Well, go on, then."

Soul placed her thumb over the button on the front of the ball, but didn't press it. "I'm going to let you out and let you have the berry, Hoothoot," she said the ball. "You don't have to attack us."

She pressed the button and held her breath. The ball popped open. Hoothoot emerged from it, already flapping his wings and hovering in the air above them. Within seconds, he had landed on the couch, pecking at the berry. Soul released her held breath. Gold still eyed Hoothoot uneasily.

"You're sure he's not going to attack me again?"

Hoothoot looked up and gave Gold and piercing look, startling Gold enough to make him fling himself over the arm of the couch. He peered over it at Hoothoot. "You should name him Nemesis."

"I'm not calling him Nemesis. Just because you seem to have bad luck with Hoothoot doesn't mean that this one is mean." She reached out cautiously and ran her fingers along Hoothoot's feathers. Hoothoot made a sound akin to a purr and nuzzled her hand. "See? He was just hungry. You know how you get when you're hungry."

"Yeah, I run after people and peck them," Gold scoffed from his hiding place. Hoothoot leapt over the arm of the couch and Gold screamed, rolling backwards and swatting at the Pokemon. "DEMON BIRD! DEMON BIRD!"

Soul hurried around the couch and pulled the mass of feathers off the boy. "Hey, hey! You two are going to have to behave!"

Hoothoot righted himself and climbed onto Soul's shoulder to smooth his ruffled wings.

Gold pointed at Hoothoot. "You see? You see? He hates me!"

Soul glared at him. "Yeah, well, you're not exactly innocent, either." Gold crossed his arms and pouted at her. Soul just rolled her eyes and reclaimed her seat on the couch. Hoothoot hopped onto the back of the couch and continued to preen.

"I should probably call my mom," Gold muttered after a moment. "I told her I was going to find you before I left, but…Yeah, I have to call her." He pulled his bag off the table and Soul watched over his shoulder as he fumbled through the pockets until he found what he was looking for. When she realized what she was looking at, she gasped.

"When did you get a Pokegear?"

Gold grinned at her. "My parents got it for me for my birthday. They thought it would be useful since I've been helping Professor Elm out lately." Gold flipped it open, only to have it snatched away. "Hey!"

Soul fiddled with the buttons until she'd activated the map function. She stared at it, trying to determine whether it would be more likely for Silver to Azalea Town or toward Goldenrod or Ecruteak. Just sitting around waiting for him to come back for his wallet wasn't as much fun as she'd thought it would be. "How long do you think it would take to get to Ecurteak City?"

"Days," Gold answered immediately. Soul looked at him curiously.

"By taking Route 36?"

"Route 36 is closed."

"What? Why?"

Gold shrugged. "Storm washed out the road or something."

Soul looked back at the map. "So he's got to be going to Azalea," she muttered to herself.

"Hmm?"

Soul realized that she'd spoken aloud. "Oh, nothing. It's nothing."

"He who?" Gold pressed, snatching the Pokegear from Soul at the same time. "You better fess up or—" Hoothoot screeched. Gold flinched, but did not deviate from his course "—or I'm calling your mom right now."

Soul glared at him, daring him to do it, but Gold clutched the Pokegear firmly, his face showing no signs of giving in. Soul sighed and pulled her bag into her lap. "Fine." She fished Silver's wallet from its secure place and tossed it at Gold. Gold glanced at the I.D. inside and looked up at Soul in confusion.

"This makes a lot of sense."

"He dropped it yesterday. I figured if I held onto it, I'd have to run into him again."

Gold's expression was unreadable. "You've been chasing this guy?" Soul nodded. "WHY? Oh God, you don't have some messed up crush—"

"Whoa, slow down!" Soul frowned. "Why is that the first conclusion you jumped to?"

Gold rolled his eyes. "Well, you're a girl…"

Soul swung her leg out and kicked Gold in the knee. "Sexist!"

Gold rubbed his knee. "Okay, fine, so, I guess this is about him creaming you in battle, then?"

Soul crossed her arms and turned her body in the other direction. "…Yes."

Gold laughed, as soul expected him to. "Really? I don't know why it matters to you so much. It's not like you're even really a trainer."

Soul spun back around. "You're only saying that because you beat him! I should have been able to stop him in the lab!"

"Soul, he's bigger than you. What else would you expect?"

Soul sunk back into the cushions. "I dunno. Something…Can't I just be irrational this one time?"

Gold laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back. "Sure, I guess."

Soul gaped at him. "If you really don't care, why'd you make me tell you anything?"

He shrugged. "I can't just let you lead me blind. I had to know _something_." He opened his Pokegear again and looked at the map. "So he was here yesterday, but left, right?"

Soul nodded. "Yeah. I don't know how far he got when he did, though. It was night by that time."

"Then the farthest he could have gone by now is probably Union Cave. I think there's a Center on the east end of it, so it's possible he stopped there. He may have turned back by now." He looked up at Soul. "So, we leave tomorrow morning and hope we bump into him, yeah?"

Soul nodded. "Sounds good."

"Great." Gold cycled through the Pokegear functions. "Now, we call out mothers."

Gold's phone call was relatively short. His mother didn't seem to have too much of a problem with his sudden decision to not go home. He'd just come up with some story about helping Professor Elm out. It somehow just made Soul all the more nervous to call her own mother. Before she'd left, she'd somehow convinced herself that her mom would be fine with it, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that it'd been a really stupid idea. When Gold handed her his Pokegear, she wasn't sure she could actually go through with calling her mother. Unfortunately, Gold had already dialed the number.

"Hello?" Soul lips clamped shut when she heard her mother's voice over the line. "Hello?"

"Say something!" Gold mouthed at her.

"H…hi, Mom," Soul squeaked.

The line was silent for a moment, and then, "SOUL, HOW DARE YOU SNEAK OUT OF MY HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?"

Soul flinched and tossed the device onto the cushion between her and Gold, listening to her mother yell. When the shouting finally ceased, Soul placed the speaker against her ear once more. "Um, I can explain." Silence. Lovely. "Well…" Soul thought frantically. She needed to come up with something, quickly. "You know that Professor Elm gave me Cyndaquil, right?" Still no response. "Well, it made me want to, you know, see the world…" Gold slapped himself in the forehead. "You know, like you did…when you were younger…not flying over it…" It was official. Soul had just come up with the worst excuse ever.

"You didn't have to leave in the middle of the night," he mother said after a moment.

Soul resisted with all of her might the relived sigh that threatened to burst from her chest. "I know, but I was caught in the moment." That part was true.

"Did Gold ever catch up with you?"

"Yes. I'm using his Pokegear right now."

"Good. Stick with him. Be careful."

"Wait, that's it?" Soul, for some reason, looked at Gold as if he could explain to her what was happening, but he just looked back at her with a far more confused look, being only able to hear one side of the conversation at that point.

"I can't say I didn't love my cross-region hike, so how can I deny it to you?"

"Um...well…"

"So have fun. I love you."

"…Love you, too?"

The line clicked and went dead. Soul let the Pokegear fall to her lap. "I can't believe that just happened."

"What? It got really quiet, and, and she's on her way, isn't she? Your lie was so bad." Gold's words began to come faster. "Ohmigosh, she's going to hurt me, isn't she?"

"Gold, calm down. She's not coming." Gold snapped his mouth shut. "She's…okay with it…its weird." She removed Cyndaquil and Mareep's poke balls from her bag. She'd put them in their balls just in case they'd had to run from Hoothoot, and she'd only just then remembered to let them out. "I guess we should get some sleep, huh? Don't know how far we have to walk tomorrow."

Gold nodded. "Right. So, you can get off the couch now."

"What?"

"I'm sleeping here."

"Where am I supposed to sleep? There's only one couch."

"Dunno. The floor, I guess," Gold said with a shrug.

"You're the one sleeping on the floor."

"Nope, I was here first."

Soul pointed to her feet. "You, on the floor."

"Nope. You."

"You."

"Hoothoot." At Soul's call, the owl pokemon took to the air. Gold shrieked and dove over the arm of the couch again.

A/N: Thank you for reading.


	8. Chapter 8

**Note:** I do not claim Pokemon as my own intellectual property. If you recognize it as something that belongs in Pokemon (Or Pokemon Special/Adventures), its not mine. This is story is meant only to be free entertainment.

Chapter Eight

The sun had only been in the sky for an hour when Soul and Gold emerged from the Pokemon Center and made their away across Violet City.

Gold yawned loudly. "Your stupid Hoothoot kept me and Aibo up all night."

Soul pursed her lips. "Three things. One," she held one finger , "he's not stupid. Two," a second finger, "you're the one who told me to catch him. Three," and a third finger, "Mareep, Cyndaquil, and I all slept fine." Mareep and Cyndaquil made sounds of agreement. "It's a good thing Hoothoot are nocturnal. I honestly don't think I could put up with the two of you all day."

Gold had no response. Neither spoke again until they'd started down Route 32, when Aibo began beating on Gold's head.

"Hey, hey! What's up?" Aibo climbed fully onto Gold's head and hopped up and down. "Hey!" Gold repeated, reaching up and pulling Aibo down. "What's up?"

Aibo pointed at something ahead of them. Gold Looked at Soul, who shrugged. Neither could see what Aibo was so worked up about. Frustrated, Aibo jumped Gold's arms and started running.

"Hey!" Gold yelled. "This isn't home! You can't just run off!" And with that, he gave chase. Soul, Mareep, and Cyndaquil followed.

Aibo led them down the road, shooting into a clump of trees when he reached a bend. Gold crashed in after him.

"Aibo? Aibo!" Gold called, stopping and spinning around, trying to catch sight of his pokemon once more.

Soul caught up momentarily, panting a bit from the run. "This is weird," she said. "He usually behaves…sort of." Aibo most certainly wasn't a pokemon most people would call _well behaved_, but he always listened to Gold when it mattered. Why he'd suddenly just take off was a mystery.

A familiar chitter came from about, and they looked up, straining to see through the leaves, but to no avail. Gold threw his bag down and found the nearest tree branch. He jumped at it and caught hold of it, but only just. He pressed his feet against the bark of the tree and began to slowly pull himself up. Soul positioned herself beneath him and gave him a shove, and he was able to hook a leg over the branch.

Soul watched from below as Hold ascended the tree. He was about fifteen feet up when he stopped and yelled, "There you are! Oh!"

"What's he doing?" Soul called.

"There's another Aipom!" Gold adjusted his position and found a comfortable place among the branches. "He's talking to it." He laughed. "I guess it's been a few years since he's seen another Aipom, huh?" he said to no one in particular.

"Uh-huh," Soul agreed too quietly for Gold to actually hear. She looked down at her own pokemon. Cyndaquil was looking around, he head moving just a little too quickly and sharply. Still nervous. Mareep, however, had her nose in the air and was stepping carefully about, as if whatever scent she'd picked up may slip away at any moment. Soul wanted to ask her what it was, but she feared she'd break Mareep's concentration, so she just watched.

Mareep's steps began taking a definite direction. Soul looked back up the tree. Gold seemed intent on letting Aibo get his fill of being with his own kind, and she didn't think it'd be a good idea to just leave them, but something about Mareep's expression made Soul want to let her continue. She picked Cyndaquil up and stepped quietly after Mareep.

It took Soul ten minutes to realize that _maybe_ Mareep wasn't actually going anywhere. Their path through the trees had been meandering, and they'd gone in loops several times, Soul was sure.

"Mareep." Mareep stopped and turned, blinking several times to bring her vision back in focus. "Where are we going?" Mareep gave her head a little shake. Soul sighed. "Then why did we just wander off?" Mareep looked around listlessly, an answer Soul couldn't interpret. "C'mon, Gold's going to wonder where we went. Aibo is probably done talking to that Aipom…"

The thought of other Aipom stuck something in Soul. "You weren't looking for other Mareep, were you?" Mareep shook her head quickly. Soul scuffed her toe against the dirt. She'd though she'd figured it out for certain. "Then what…" Soul had another thought. Her mother had caught Mareep for her years ago. Her mother had caught Mareep here, on Route 32. "You just wanted to look around you old home, didn't you?"

Mareep bleated happily, and Soul smiled. She and Mareep had never had trouble communicating before, so she'd been worried.

"Okay, let's go find Gold and Aibo."

* * *

"Look out below!"

Gold dropped out of the tree, Aibo slung over his shoulders. He straightened up and grinned, only to realize that he was very much alone. His grin faded. "Soul? Great, now you've run off…again!" He threw his hands up in the air and waved them haphazardly, getting a swat Aibo for nearly dislodging him. Gold slung his backpack back on and headed towards the road, calling for Soul. He stumbled out of the brush. "Sou-eh?"

Gold stood, dumbstruck. There's no way he could have ever gotten lucky enough to run into that red-haired kid, Silver, right then. The idea was absolutely absurd. But there he was, grimacing and perhaps even raising an eyebrow at Gold as he strolled right on past in the direction of Violet City. Aibo yanked on Gold's ear to snap him out of his stupor.

"Hey, you!" Gold called, running ahead of Silver and cutting him off.

Silver crossed his arms, his lips curling as he answered, "Yes?"

Gold smirked. "Remember me?"

"Unfortunately."

Gold's smirk turned into a cocky grin. "Yeah, well, I'm one of Professor Elm's assistants. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to give that Totodile back."

Silver rolled his eyes and pushed past Gold. "I don't have time for this."

"What?" Gold tailed him closely. "You don't even want a rematch?"

"What part of, 'I don't have time for this,' didn't you understand?" Silver asked, lengthening his strides in an attempt to distance himself from Gold.

"In that much of a hurry to find your wallet, eh?"

Silver stopped dead, and Gold crashed into him. In a flash, Silver turned and pushed Gold off of him. "You have it," he said lowly.

Gold gave him a coy smile and shrugged. "Nope. Soul does."

"Soul?"

"You know, huge, white hat—" he moved his hands around his head "—with a big, red bow on the side?"

Silver's face hardened. "_Her."_

"Yes, her. Hey! Where do you think you're going now?"

Silver had pushed past Gold again, this time to walk to the woods. He didn't answer Gold, just stormed straight into the brush and released his pokemon. Gold shadowed him.

"I was talking to you."

"Buzz off."

"No."

* * *

Soul heard them shouting long before she saw them. One of the voices obviously belonged to Gold, but she didn't quite recognize the other.

"You have five seconds to stop following me."

"Oh, yeah? What are you gonna do? You can't take me in a pokemon battle, so you probably can't take me in a fist fight, either."

Soul's lips curved up into a smile. So Gold, had found him, had he?

Soul was just about to go searching for the two boys when Mareep and Cyndaquil cried for her attention. They pointed her in the other direction. Peeking from behind a tree not ten feet away were the big eyes of none other than Totodile.

"Hey, Totodile," she said softly, taking a tentative step forward. "Don't run away, okay?" Another step, then another. Just as she thought that she was actually going to be able to grab him, he turned tail and ran. "No! Wait!" She ran after him, nearly tripping over the bushes and brambles that Totodile was leading her through.

Totodile suddenly stopped and faced her. Soul thought nothing of it, other than its meaning success. Suddenly, Gastly dropped from above and ran its tongue straight across Soul's face. She tumbled over and let out a shriek.

When she hit the ground, Soul lost all ability to discern what was going on around her. She heard the crackle of electricity shooting through the air; she heard Totodile screech, and Cyndaquil cry in fear. Then there was a strange roar, a flash of light, and a blast of heat. She tried to get up, but her chaos-induced disorientation coupled with the effects of Gastly's Lick attack made her unable to push herself up more than a few inches before she dropped back to the dirt.

Then someone grabbed her, but released her almost immediately. She reached out and grabbed onto the person's clothing, but whoever it was pulled away.

"Put the fire out!"

Soul shook her head. Fire? Something nudged her arm and bleated. That was Mareep. Soul wrapped an arm around the pokemon and was able to roll herself over, shielding Mareep from the flames.


	9. Chapter 9

**Note:** I do not claim Pokemon as my own intellectual property. If you recognize it as something that belongs in Pokemon (Or Pokemon Special/Adventures), its not mine. This is story is meant only to be free entertainment.

Chapter Nine

"Soul!" Again, someone grabbed her, but this time whoever it was held on to her, even shook her a bit. "Soul! Are you okay?"

"G-Gold?" Soul managed to moan. "What…what's going on?" She lifted a quivering hand and rubbed her eyes, trying to bring her friend into focus.

"I was following that Silver guy, and then we heard you scream, and I think he tripped me," Gold began explaining, the words tumbling from his mouth faster and faster. "Then I saw fire up ahead, and I don't know what happened after that, 'cause the fire's out now…Crap, Soul, you stuff's all over the ground."

"What?" Soul's body lurched forward, only to fall back into Gold's arms. She could see again, though, and looked around. Her things were indeed strewn across the ground, her bag tossed carelessly on a nearby bush. "Mareep, Cyndaquil." They were there, at her side. "Silver went through my bag, didn't he? He got his wallet?"

Mareep and Cyndaquil nodded. Soul's foot twitched, a failed attempt at kicking in frustration. She groaned. "Stupid Gastly."

"What?" Gold asked, already trying to pull her to her feet.

"Silver's Gastly. It licked me."

Gold made a disgusted noise, but put Soul back on the ground. The effects of the attack would wear off soon. He instead busied himself with putting Soul's bag back together. "I wonder what could have started the fire."

"Probably Mareep. I heard her use Thundershock on someone. The electricity probably caught the trees on fire. " She looked at Mareep. "Right?"

Mareep shook her head and looked at Cyndaquil, who looked sheepishly at Soul.

"_You_, Cyndaquil?"

"Cyndaquil _is _a Fire type, Soul," Gold pointed out, dropping Soul's bag and reaching out to touch Cyndaquil's back. "Yep, she's still hot."

"I didn't think she was strong enough to do that yet."

Gold shrugged. "She probably did it because she was scared; just shot a wild plume of fire out of her back."

"Huh," Soul said, running her hand over Cyndaquil's back and marveling at how soft her fur was, even after being subjected to flame.

Gold seemed to read her expression. "It's fire proof." He closed up Soul's bag, having found all her things. "Think you can walk?"

Soul bent her right leg up with relative ease, but something still wasn't quite right. "It feels like jelly."

Gold flipped his back pack around to his front and swung Soul's bag over his shoulder. "Right, well, we still need to catch up to that Silver guy." He took hold of Soul's arm and slowly pulled her up, adjusting his position to support her weight for her. "You get on my back."

"Oh, this will be fun," Soul commented sarcastically as she draped her arms over Gold's shoulders.

"Nah, I got this." He knelt down suddenly and Soul nearly fell over on him, but it got the job done. Gold stood up straight; he stumbled a bit, but his body adjusted to the extra weight. "You're good for a run run after that blast of fire, right, Cyndaquil?"

Cyndaquil nodded. Gold adjusted his grip on Soul's knees. Soul adjusted her grip on Gold.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Soul chanted, pulling her bag up by its strap. She removed a poke ball and opened it. Hoothoot emerged and landed on a nearby branch, blinking and shaking his head in the light. "Hoothoot, would you mind flying ahead and looking for a red haired boy?"

Hoothoot gave and determined hoot and soared off the branch and out of sight.

"Good thinking," Gold said. "Okay, lead the way, Aibo!" he called up into the trees. Aibo gave him a little salute and began leaping from branch to branch, leading them southward.

* * *

The sun had set by the time Soul and Gold reached the Pokemon Center at the bottom of Route 32. Gold had collapsed around midafternoon, which slowed them down a bit, but Soul had regained full use of her legs by then.

"You think he's inside?" Soul asked Gold, looking at the Center.

"Dunno," Gold responded. "He couldn't have been that far ahead of us, and most people would save Dark cave for the morning."

"Yeah, well, he's not most people," Soul reminded him. Silver had had no qualms about leaving Violet City at night.

Hoothoot swooped from the top of the Center and landed on Soul's shoulder with a quiet rustle of feathers.

"Did you find him?" Soul asked the pokemon. He nodded. "Is he in the Pokemon Center?"

Hoothoot shook his head and took off again, leading Soul and Gold passed the Pokemon Center and circling above an opening in the nearby cliff face. By the light of the lamps on either side of the opening, they saw a sign that read, "Union Cave."

Gold laced his fingers behind his head. "Well, what do you want to do? Day or night, it's dark in there."

Soul retrieved her flashlight from the depths of her bag and clicked it on. "We don't have much of a choice, do we? If we stop, he'll just get farther away. You have one?" She waved the flashlight at him.

"Yeah, gimme a sec." While Gold dug through his bag, Soul knelt down to speak to her pokemon.

"You look pretty tired, Cyndaquil. How do you feel Mareep?" Mareep bleated strongly, signaling that she still had plenty of energy. Soul unzipped her bag and instead of just putting Cyndaquil in her poke ball, she fit Cyndaquil inside the bag. The little fire pokemon fit perfectly.

"Got it!" Gold closed up his bag and clicked his own flashlight on. "Let's go."

Hoothoot swooped inside the cave ahead of them, circling back every so often so as not to get too far ahead.

"I hope he doesn't get attacked by Zubat," Soul thought out loud.

"He'll be fine," Gold assured her. "He took that thunderbolt, remember?"

Their light beams fell across a peculiar pokemon then. Its round, blue head peeked out at them from behind a rock.

"Do you know what that is?" Gold whispered to Soul, least he scare the little pokemon.

"No idea."

"I'm going to catch it." Gold made a grab for Soul's bag.

Soul yanked her bag away and Cyndaquil squeaked in surprise. "You're gonna what?"

"Aibo, make sure it doesn't get away!"

Aibo dove off Gold's head and after the little pokemon, who cried out and took off deeper into the cave.

"Soul! Give me a poke ball!"

"What? No!"

"Cyndaquil!"

"Don't—"

An empty poke ball popped out of Soul's open bag. Soul made a grab for it, but Gold was quicker. He snatched it out of the air and took off after Aibo.

Soul followed the sounds of clattering rocks and splashing water. She heard Gold yell something about his fishing pole, or lack or, rather. His cry of triumph echoed through the cave before Soul caught up to him. He had the poke ball held at arm's length above his head and was prancing around the cavern.

"Gold, you don't even know what kind of pokemon that is, and you caught it?"

Gold stopped and nodded frantically. "Uh-huh! It's a feisty little thing! Aibo was throwing rocks at it, and it threw them right back! And it's a water pokemon!" Soul noticed Aibo sitting on a nearby rock, soaking wet and looking none too happy about it. Gold stowed the poke ball in his back pack. "Right, so, at least we got farther into the cave."

"Right." Soul walked briskly past Gold, punching him hard in the arm as she did.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For stealing my poke ball!"

"I carried you all day, and you can't give me one poke ball?"

"Ugh!"

* * *

They made it through the rest of the cave without encountering too many other pokemon thanks to Hoothoot, and they didn't encounter any other people, either, not Silver, not anyone who could have seen him. They emerged from the exit, lit much like the entrance.

"See if you can find him," Soul told Hoothoot, and he disappeared into the dark.

"He's proving to be useful," Gold commented. "Night vision and all that."

"And you were mad that I kept him."

"Shut up."

They fell silent, and the eeriness of the dark forest settled upon them.

"Hey, what's that?" Gold said after a while, pointing at a form in the dark. They drew closer, and when they were upon it, they realized that it was a well.

"Look." Soul pointed at a rope ladder hanging down into the well. "Why do you think that's there?"

"Maybe that's how they get water out of it," Gold guessed. "There's no rigging for a pulley, so maybe they just climb down and scoop the water."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

Gold shrugged. "Probably, but why else would it be here?"

"True…"

"HEY! YOU KIDS!"

Soul shrieked and clutched at Gold, who had also screamed and clutched back just as frantically. They looked around for who'd yelled. A man dressed in all black hurried out of the trees, a lantern swinging from his clenched fist.

"Get away from there!" the man ordered.

Wide eyed and terrified, Gold and Soul stumbled away, looking back just in time for the man to disappear down the well.

"That was weird," Gold said plainly.

Soul stomped in frustration. "Gold, he's not here."

"I can see that, Soul."

"He's not here!"

"I see that!"

Hoothoot dove at Gold when he raised his voice, and Gold called for Soul to call the bird off, but Soul paid him no mind. The two other trainers in the Pokemon Center lounge stared at them.

"You can't tell me he went straight through town!" She dug Gold's Pokegear out of his bag and switched on the map function. "He'd be going through Ilex forest right now! Ugh! Gold, think of something!"

"YOUR BIRD HAS MY HAT!"

Sure enough, Gold was gripping one side of his cap; Hoothoot was gripping the other and trying to fly away with it.

"Hoothoot, leave him alone," Soul ordered, waving her hand dismissively.

"Thank you!" Gold snapped, tugging his hat back down on his head. "Now, let's calm down and think about this rationally."

"Gold, we have no idea where he went!"

Gold pressed his lips into a line. He'd like to get all worked up, but Soul was worked up enough for the both of them. "Look, this guy knows we're looking for him, so he probably won't stay anywhere obvious. We should have known looking here would have been pointless."

Soul groaned and stomped in a circle.

"Excuse me," called on of the green clad girls in the corner. Soul spun around and glared at them, but Gold grabbed her by the back of her overalls and guided her down to the couch.

"Stay," he hissed at her before crossing the room. Soul crossed her arms and grimaced at the little table in front of her.

"Hello, ladies," Gold cooed, taking a seat in an empty chair. "The name's Gold."

The one who'd spoken before smiled. "I'm Liz, and this is Gina." She gestured to her friend, who also smiled, though rather sheepishly.

"And what can I do for the two of you this evening?" he asked, a grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

"We, uh, overheard your conversation," Liz began. "You're looking for someone?"

Gold wondered where this was going, but his smile did no falter. "Yes, we are. I'm an assistant to Professor Elm, you've heard of him, ri—"

"We might have seen who you're looking for," Gina blurted out, cutting Gold off.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Eh? How do you know who we're looking for?"

"We don't," Liz said. "But a boy passed us on Route 33 while we were looking for grass night pokemon. He looked like he was in a hurry. He had red hair."

"That's him! But wait," Gold's face fell. "You didn't see where he went, did you? He was just heading towards town?"

Liz and Gina shook their heads in tandem. "No, we saw him again when we came back, lurking around Slowpoke Well."

Gold blinked, letting her statement sink in. "Wait, you mean that creepy well in the woods."

Liz nodded. "Yeah. There have been a lot of people lurking around the well, lately."

Gold smiled. "Well, that's really helpful. I wish I had some way to thank you…Ah! I know! Aibo, my Pokegear!"

Aibo sprung off the cushion next to Soul and snatched the device from her hands ("Hey!") and brought it to Gold.

"If you'll program your phone numbers into my Pokegear, I'll give you a call when I've time to properly thank you."

Both Liz and Gina giggled, taking turns programming their phone numbers into Gold's phone book. Gold thanked them again and stood.

"Get up, grumpy butt," he said to Soul.

"Oh, ready to actually solve our problem now that you're done flirting?" Soul snapped.

Gold gave her a cheeky grin. "Already solved. I know where he is."

Soul sat up straighter. "What?"

"Hoho!" Gold sang. "That changed your mood. I know where Silver is."

Soul rocketed to her feet, scooping Mareep and Cyndaquil up under each arm in eagerness. "Don't just stand there! Spit it out, and let's go!"


End file.
